Dog Would Have Made Good Candidate for Darwin Awards if He Were a Human
A most remarkable and unnecessary case was at the emergency hospital over the weekend. If a human being had wound up injured in the manner described below he would have been a laughingstock.
Of course, in this case the dog was not at all to blame. His owners, on the other hand, could use a healthy injection of common sense.
The dog was a young, active large individual. He liked to run. The owners were more sedentary in nature. Recognizing that their pet needed exercise, they took him to a quiet road and set him free. They then followed behind in their car.
They followed too closely. The dog became tired and slowed down. Can you guess what happened next?
Fortunately, although the dog was injured when his owners struck him with the car, the injuries were not life-threatening. Pain killers, antibiotics, wound care, and nasal oxygen support were all that he needed.
But I am amazed that his owners failed to foresee the likely consequences of their way of exercising the dog. I worry about that dog’s future.
Photo: Blix demonstrates safe dog-car interaction. His risk of injury is minimal.
You have questions. 
Those people are morons. If the dog had been a child, they would be investigated by Child Protective Services, the child would be removed from the home, at least temporarily, and they’d be in a heap of trouble. But because it was a dog, they just get made fun of on a blog and nothing happens to them. People should have to get licenses to own a dog, and have those licenses revoked when they do utterly stupid things like this.
Dogs are very smart!!!!!!!!!!!!
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This post was mentioned on Digg by badqat: Sounds as if owning a dog is too much trouble for these folks. …
A guy in our neighborhood does this all the time and I have yet to be able to stop him and ask him what the heck he thinks he is doing. BTW it is a hazard for other cars as well since you can’t see his dog running close to his car and he darts out into the other lane all the time
My dog loves to ride to the boat ramp at 5 AM once we are there she runs around the parking lot while I drive the pick up truck. We have done this for 12 years. I am always ready to stop …she looks over her shoulder before starting to cross over in any area where she may cross in front of the truck. The boat ramp is a very quiet place with a 2 mile road to it that is about a lane and a half wide. the road speed limit is 15 mph and most people don’t even go that fast on the road. Where this may not be advisable for a lot of pets and areas.. I am always watchfull for other vehicles and my lab wears a lighted collar when we are on our early morning runs. She truely enjoys this activity and I am very alert when we are doing the run.
This practice is more common then you would think.
I saw a guy on UTube who drives his motorcycle under the train L while his Chihuahua runs! In another video theirs a large dog running after his owners dune buggy on a beach, and so on and so on.
I would never do it, it’s just plain to dangerous.
I do this all the time, but I A) have trained the dogs to stay on the sidewalk B) I ride my mtn bike or motorcycle C) I only do it around my dead end street at my shop after 6pm when everyone has gone home, so we have zero cars to deal with. If you go to youtube.com/renebruce you can see a video of it, they luv it to be honest ! witch leads me to my new AgilityLure.com were gonna start next year, luring closed course with agility obsticles for them to train, it will be great I think !!!
Does anyone else think this was, at the very least, irresponsible of the people? Geesh!
I used to do this with Bailey at our campground, but I was driving a golf cart, and we were on a dirt path, where cars don’t go. I was always very careful with him, making sure he didn’t run in front of me. He was always on a leash, too I always took him for long walks, but being a JRT, this was never enough. I am not built for speed, so I wasn’t able to run with him, and this was the only way he could get some of his energy zapped.
I don’t think it’s a good idea for any dog.
Most dogs do fine running next to or behind a bicycle. We are so lazy we have to be in a car while they exercise. I don’t get people. We can be pretty dangerous to many other species. Believe it.
Wow, I can not believe these dogs owners are so lazy & didn’t use a brain cell. Another couple that should never own a pet! Sophie Bean is high energy which means I have to get off my butt and exercise her daily, no excuses!. What ever happened to commom sense?
Unbelievable! When you get a dog you know it’s gonna need exercise, plain & simple. We have 3 & we have a large fenced in yard so they can run as they please. However we still take them for walks as well. My husband takes our 2 larger dogs as I can’t handle them (I have a disease called Reflex Sympathetic Syndrome – RSD in my left foot which causes me pain 24/7). On my good days, I take my maltipom, which usually results in turning my good day into a bad one (painwise) but I still do it because she needs it. Point is, if I can manage to take my pup for a walk, what’s this other joker doing following in a car? Unbelievable!!!!
Wow that is terrible… I am not going to judge for the way they chose to exercise their dog (there may be a reason for it… like the owner is 70 years old), but you would think that if you thought to do this you would at least PAY ATTENTION to your own dog. Thank DOG they had enough foresight to stop and seek treatment. If I were that dog I would ask for an “I’m with Stupid” teeshirt for Christmas BOL :))
Seriously…how stupid can these people be????
OK, I get it doing it on a bicycle, but I would never do this with my dog, A) Because she is not well-trained and would no doubt run off, B) Because of other cars, and C) Because of the reason that this dog got hit! Honestly, what are people thinking? My Angel is super fast, and I often run with her.
I had a friend in high school who thought the same way as these idiots! She was in the car one afternoon with her dog running along side. The road was “almost” deserted… the pickup truck came from behind her and passed, hitting her dog from behind. Her helpless and recently bred dog, Shiloh, died in her arms on the side of the road with her two year old son screaming beside her!!! I’ve never forgotten the day Shiloh died and it has helped shaped me as a parent and pet owner.
I wouldn’t take the risk of exercising my dog this way. No matter how well trained the dog is or how alert the owner is– it’ll take just one tiny mistake on your part or the dogs–or a stranger–and your dogs life is over.
Some idiots were doing this with their dog. The dog ran out into an crossing street when it did not have the right of way and my boyfriend ran over it in his vehicle. He was horrified and the dog was severely injured, not sure if it survived or not but the people were taking it to an emergency animal hospital. Morons.
The owners of this dog are proof positive that people need to be licensed to own pets, instead of pets being licensed to be considered “legal.” Some people are truly idiots and should NOT be allowed to own or breed pets… or themselves for that matter!!!